Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin are to line up on opposite sides in a key midterm race that could determine control of the Senate in the November elections.

Mr Clinton, the former US president, spent Monday in West Virginia, hoping to boost Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin's campaign as it struggles against wealthy Republican businessman John Raese. Meanwhile, former vice presidential candidate Mrs Palin announced she was backing Mr Raese on her Facebook page, hoping to again demonstrate her political clout.

"He did every single thing you want Washington to do," Mr Clinton said of Manchin during an event in Morgantown. If it weren't for the nation's economic struggles, Mr Clinton said, Mr Manchin would "be ahead by 30 points, and you know it."

Mr Manchin enjoys high popularity in the state and was assumed to have an easy route to the seat left open by Sen. Robert Byrd's death. But Mr Raese has closed in, and strategists from both parties are now paying close attention to the race.

West Virginia has not sent a Republican to the Senate since 1958. Mr Byrd, who died in June at age 92, held the seat for more than 50 years, but the Republicans and their allies are spending millions on ads trying to tie Mr Manchin with the Democratic-controlled White House and Congress.

"The last thing Washington, D.C., needs is another rubber-stamp vote for President Obama and the liberal agenda," Mrs Palin wrote.

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In a swipe at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mrs Palin said: "John Raese has the courage and independence to stand up to the Washington politics of Reid and Pelosi. He'll do what's right for West Virginia."

She urged her supporters to back a slate of picks, including candidates in Virginia, Michigan and Arizona.

"A commonsense grass-roots movement is determined to get our country back to its founding principles and constitutional roots," Mrs Palin wrote. "I hope you'll join me in supporting a few more patriots this November – because we need their voice and their votes in D.C."

Mr Clinton is the last Democratic presidential candidate the state supported.

"I don't blame anybody for being mad. We've had a huge economic body blow," Mr Clinton said. "But I'm old enough to know that if you make a decision when you're mad – and this is not just politics – there's about an 80 per cent chance you're going to make a mistake."